Pick Picknic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Objective of the Game
Setup
Sequence of Play
A New Round Begins
End of the Game

Objective of the Game

Chickens, geese, and ducks that dine at the right moment can soon look forward to a nice new layer of fat. It's much the same for the clever foxes, who can smell a roast a mile away... Whoever has taken in the most valuable poultry and the most nourishing grain by the end of the game wins.

Setup

Lay out the 6 farmyards side by side in the middle of the table. Shuffle the poultry cards and fox cards together thoroughly. Each player receives 5 cards, which they take into their hand. Place the remaining cards as a face-down deck between the two middle farmyards (see illustration 2).

In a game with two or three players, each player receives 6 cards in hand.

Pour the 78 grains into the bottom part of the game box, mix them well, and set the box down next to the farmyards. Keep the "Hick Hack" die within easy reach.

Sequence of Play

1. The Supply Phase: every farmyard harvests a fresh grain!

At the start of every round, all the farmyards are supplied with feed. To do this, one player — without looking! — reaches into the bottom of the box, takes a handful of grain into a closed fist, and lets one grain fall at each farmyard from their hand (see illustration 2). Any surplus grain goes back into the box.

The grains of different colors have different nutritional value.

2. Foraging: play a card face down!

Whose stomach is that rumbling? Sounds like the poultry and foxes are getting hungry. Searching for food for their animals, each player now places any one of their hand cards face down in front of themselves.

When only 2 or 3 players are playing, each player places two cards face down in front of themselves instead. It is not permitted to play a piece of poultry and a fox of the same color.

Once all players have played their card(s), these are turned face up. Now every animal tries to feed at its farmyard.

The colors of the played cards show at which farmyard the animals go looking for food (see illustration 3). The ducks (blue cards) feed at the blue duck farmyard ("At the Waddling Pond"). The chickens (yellow cards) peck at the yellow chicken farmyard ("Gackelwack"). The pheasants (purple cards) dine at the purple pheasant farmyard ("The Pheasantry"), and so on.

Foxes likewise always look for food at the farmyard matching their card's color (see section 4).

3. Poultry Eats Grain

A) Whoever comes alone, eats alone...

Every revealed piece of poultry (chicken, duck, turkey, pheasant, goose, or guinea fowl) that finds itself alone at its farmyard gobbles up all the grain laid out there (see illustration 4). The player in question takes all the grain from that farmyard and places it as food stock in front of themselves.

Example: Claudia's goose, Peter's chicken, Reinhold's guinea fowl, and Stefanie's duck are each alone at their farmyard, so each of them may eat all the grain there. The grain at the turkey farm and at the pheasantry stays put, because no turkeys or pheasants were played.

Once every piece of poultry has eaten, the played cards are placed face up on a discard pile next to the draw deck (see illustration 4).

B) Poultry seldom comes alone...

It often happens that several feathered members of the same species — but no fox — are played to the same farmyard. At that farmyard, the poultry involved may haggle with one another over how to split the grain. If the players reach an agreement, each receives their agreed share of grain. If the animals involved cannot agree, a duel with the "Hick Hack" die decides which player receives all the grain from that farmyard.

The duel with the "Hick Hack" die

All players involved in the duel roll the "Hick Hack" die and add the value of their played card to the result of their roll. Whoever achieves the highest total wins the duel, and with it the entire haul. If several players arrive at the same result, they repeat the duel.

Example: Claudia, Peter, and Stefanie have all played a duck and cannot agree. It comes to a dice duel. Claudia rolls a 2, Peter a 3, and Stefanie a 4. Claudia and Peter have therefore each achieved a total of 8. Stefanie is out of the running, since her total only comes to 7. Claudia and Peter repeat their duel — both roll a 1. That gives Claudia the higher total (7) versus Peter's (6), and she takes all the grain laid out "At the Waddling Pond."

Watch out! Fleeing poultry

Among every species of poultry there is one extremely skittish specimen (card value –2). This animal only actually eats when it finds itself alone at the farmyard. If fellow poultry — or foxes — are present at the farmyard, it flees immediately, without taking part in any haggling or dice duels. However, it is bold enough to always sneak away with exactly one green grain from the farmyard, if at least one is present. The player who played the shy "minus-chicken" takes the pilfered grain into their stock.

Once the grain has been divided up, all the played cards are placed on the discard pile (see illustration 4).

4. Foxes Eat Poultry

A. Where there's nothing, no fox eats either

Foxes don't eat grain — they eat poultry. If foxes visit a farmyard where no poultry happens to be present, they come away empty-handed. The played fox card(s) are placed face up on the discard pile (see illustration 6). The grain stays put at the farmyard.

B. A fox helps itself

A fox that arrives at a farmyard without any other foxes present snatches up all the poultry there — that is, the player who played that fox takes the poultry cards into their stock. All the grain stays put at that farmyard.

If an extremely skittish piece of poultry (card value –2) is present at the farmyard, the fox unfortunately has to make do with the digestive leftovers that animal left behind while fleeing, which it must frustratedly add to its player's food stock. As usual, the player who played the "minus-chicken" to that farmyard may take one green grain from there for themselves (if any is present). All remaining grain stays at the farmyard. The played fox card(s) are placed face up on the discard pile (see illustration 6).

C. Foxes don't share

Foxes are thoroughly selfish: they don't share. So if several foxes turn up at the same farmyard, only one of them gets all the poultry present there. A duel with the "Hick Hack" die decides which fox makes the catch. The dice duel among foxes works exactly like the duel between fellow poultry described above.

Example: Claudia, Peter, and Birgit have each played a fox card. Simone has played a duck (value: +6), Thomas a turkey (+4), and Udo a frightened turkey (–2). Claudia's blue fox snatches up Simone's duck "At the Waddling Pond." Peter and Birgit settle in a dice duel which of their black foxes makes the catch at the turkey farm. The grain stays at all the farmyards afterward, since no poultry there got to feed undisturbed. Only Udo, with his frightened turkey, got to pilfer a green grain.

A New Round Begins

Once all the winnings (grain to poultry; poultry to foxes) have been distributed, the remaining fox and poultry cards are placed face up on the discard pile next to the face-down draw deck (illustration 4). Then every farmyard is supplied with additional feed again. As described above, each farmyard once again receives a fresh grain. Grain left over from previous feeding rounds stays at its respective farmyard.

All players draw one card from the face-down draw deck.

When two or three players are playing, each player draws two cards instead.

If the face-down draw deck runs out, the discard pile is shuffled and set down as the new draw deck.

End of the Game

The last round begins when grain can be distributed from left to right for the last time. Everyone gets one final chance to cash in well. After that, the game ends. Now each player totals up their collected grain (note the differing values per color!) and poultry (according to card value). The player with the most victory points has satisfied their hunger most lastingly, and is thereby the winner of the game. True gluttons can, of course, enjoy several courses!

Bon appétit!